[Podcast] How to Juggle Being Multi-Passionate (REPLAY)

I’m off in the woods at Jazz Camp West this week. It’s the one island of time during my year when I’m completely offline — no internet, no cell connection, no nuthin’ but real-time connections with real human beings.

It’s magical.

I sleep in a tent under the redwoods and do things I never get to do the rest of the year.

Like play drums. And steel pans. And reconnect with singing, and my ukulele, both of which have been sorely neglected in 2017.

I was even thinking of taking a casino rueda class (kind of like the salsa dancing version of square dancing), which is something I was wildly into back in 1999-2000, but have barely done at all since then, thanks to a foot injury, and then, well, life.

That’s what summer camp is for: deep dives into fun.

Anyway, since Jazz Camp comes right on the heels of my trip to Buffalo for the CPSI conference, and I already tapped out my plan-ahead muscles to the max, I thought this would be a good time to pull out an episode from the archives. (Yeah, there I go again with the transparency. Can’t help it!)

My Stovetop Model of Life Design is one that really could use a revisit periodically, and it’s been a couple of years, so without further ado, here ya go!

Do you struggle with how to juggle all your passions and interests? In this episode I share how I learned to embrace my passion pluralite nature, AND how to effectively manage it, using my Stovetop Model of Life Design.

Topics covered in this episode:

How the culture values specialists over generalists/multi-passionates.

The “lightbulb moment” that pissed me off and started me on the road to embracing my passion pluralism while I was a dance student at Juilliard.

The nagging feeling that I had that there was something wrong with me, because I couldn’t just stick with one thing.

The revelation that having multiple passions and interests is not something to purge, but something to accept, embrace and work with.

The point is not to be as talented as Leonardo, but to embrace your nature.

Being a passion pluralite/multi-passionate presents some unique challenges, so how to deal with them?

“I get to do everything, just not all at the same time.”

My Stovetop Model of Life Design (and why four burners, not 20 or 100).

“At any given moment, you can only give your full attention to one saucepan, but a skilled cook can handle four burners quite handily.”

What I especially love about the Stovetop Model: in addition to the burners, there’s the fridge, the cupboard, the grocery store!

Passion pluralites/Scanners come in multiple varieties. (I’m a blend of what Barbera Sher calls “The Serial Master” and “The Sybil.”)

The false guilt we sometimes feel when we move a pot to a back burner.

Joseph Campbell said, “Follow your bliss.” Follow your bliss, not what other people want from you, because that’s a sure recipe for burnout.

Links and resources mentioned in this episode:

Refuse to Choose, by Barbara Sher

The Renaissance Soul, by Margaret Lobenstine

Something Cool

As this is a replay, Something Cool is on hiatus this week, but it will be back next week!

Enjoy!

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